the painted mask
by eternal-pureblood
Summary: after being abandoned and now forced live on the streets life has always been hard for tari...always being treated bad she never trusted anyone...and then she meet gaara...yea the summary sucks just read please i like it :  thanks rating might change


Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my characters…

My note: please read a review

**Chapter 1**

Gaara, naruto, kankuro, and shikamaru decided to stop for lunch a local café before heading to their apartments. They walked in and seated themselves at a table in the back corner. Naruto looked up from his menu.

"I've never ate here before….have you guys?" asked naruto as he looked at his friends.

"No I haven't" said kankuro but he didn't looked up from his menu.

"Nor have I" said Gaara he looked up from his menu and glanced around the café, then back at the menu.

"But it looks they have good food" said kankuro as he glanced at naruto.

"Yea their food is ok I brought ino here a few months ago…" said shikamaru, he placed his menu down and lit a cigarette. He reached and got the ashtray from the window before opening the window to let the smoke out.

"You and ino are getting pretty serious...aren't ya?" asked kankuro looking over at shikamaru.

"yea…she's been hinting she wants to move in together….she said she hates living alone and her best friend and my sister, Amaya, is now living with neji….it's a drag…that means ill actually have to care what my place looks like.." said shikamaru as he smoked.

"Wow Amaya and neji have gotten really serious too…so are you going to ask her to move in with you or what?" asked naruto

"I don't know…I asked her to come over later tonight and we would talk…I mean it wouldn't be that different…we already spend the night at each other's place…some of her stuff is at my place and vice versa….we rarely spend nights apart.." said shikamaru. Just as naruto went to say something they heard something crash in kitchen. They looked that way as they listened to the scene that was happening in the kitchen.

"You're useless! You stupid bitch!" yelled a man. They heard someone crying, and something else breaks; so they continued to listen unsure what to do.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?... Get up and go make yourself useful!" yelled the same man. A girl came stumbling out of the kitchen; she stopped and adjusted her cloths before walking up to their table. She sniffled and whipped her eyes trying to compose herself.

"h-hi…what can I get for you g-guys?" asked the girl shakingly, as she tried so hard to hold herself together. No one said anything as they looked at the girl. She had long jet black hair and from what they could see of her eyes, they would say that they looked violet. They could see her fighting back tears. At the sound of her voice Gaara looked up. He locked his eyes on her.

"Are you alright?" asked Gaara. Kankuro looked at his kid brother; he had never seen Gaara show affection for anyone other than his closest friends. Kankuro looked at his brother who seemed to be lost in thought as he stared at this girl. Even naruto was surprised by gaara's actions.

"Um…don't worry about me sir….im not really your concern….." said the girl as she sniffled again. She didn't meet gaara's gaze but she stared at her notepad in her hand. Gaara just looked at her. She took their orders and quickly returned to the kitchen. She served them with the best fake smile that she could do at the moment. When she walked off it was quite for few minutes at their table. Kankuro was the first to break the silence.

"Gaara is everything ok?" asked kankuro

"Who is she?" Gaara asked shikamaru ignoring his brother. Shikamaru looked toward the kitchen and then back at Gaara.

"I'm not sure…she wasn't here the last time I came here…." Said shikamaru

"You seem to already like her and you know nothing about her…" said naruto with a sly smile.

"I wonder who she is..." said Gaara as he looked toward the kitchen. Just as kankuro went to say something about his brothers new found interest in the random girl, the kitchen doors swung opened and she came out carrying all four of their meals. One balanced on her head, two balanced on a tray and the other held in her hand. She walked up to the table and gave them their orders. She gave a fake smile and walked off without saying anything.

"What the hell?...this was supposed to be cleaned up and hour ago! What the hell have you been doing?..." yelled the man. They all looked toward the kitchen.

"You know what…never-mind!...get the hell out of the way!" yelled the man. A moment later the girl fell out of the kitchen door and onto the floor. Naruto's mouth fell open and shikamaru stopped eating along with Gaara. They looked that at the girl as she sat on the floor for a minute. She didn't look up. Just as Gaara went to get up a man came out of the kitchen.

"You really are useless!...you know what get the hell out!..." yelled the man as he pointed at the door.

"but…" said the girl with a shaky voice. She looked up at the man.

"I don't care….you are not my problem or anyone else's for that matter! Reality check no one cares about you!...not get the hell out!" yelled the man. The girl didn't say anything as she gathered herself off the floor and left the café. Gaara and the others paid for their meal and left the café. As they walked down the street Gaara kept glancing around.

"Gaara… what are you looking for?" asked kankuro as he looked at his brother. Gaara said nothing just kept looking around.

"That girl from earlier…I bet" said naruto. Just as shikamaru went to say something they caught sight of the girl. They saw that she was heading for what looked to be a run-down apartment building. Gaara went to her, when she sensed him she quickly turned to face him, her face was completely expressionless. She said nothing as she watched Gaara and the others approach her.

"Hello…You're that girl from the café earlier…" said Gaara. The girl nodded but kept silent as she watched them.

"I'm Gaara….what's your name?" asked Gaara

"Why?..." asked the girl as she cautiously looked for an escape route, she knew that since she had eaten anything in days that she was no match for all four of them.

"I'm curious…." Said Gaara

"Tari…" said the girl.

"Well tari you seemed really upset earlier…are you ok?" asked Gaara

"Sure…." Said tari, just then her stomach growled, she sighed as she looked at the ground. That's when Gaara noticed how incredibly skinny she was.

"You don't eat often?" asked Gaara.

"Well it's kinda hard to get food sometimes when you live on the streets" said tari, she didn't look up.

"Why do you live on the streets?...what about your parents?" asked Gaara, he felt bad that this girl was all alone.

"Um it's a long story…." Said tari

"You don't have any friends?" asked Gaara

"No…I'm alone" said tari as her stomach growled again.

"Well where do you stay?" asked Gaara

"Um well wherever I can..." said tari. Gaara glanced at his brother and then looked at tari again.

"Why don't you come with me back to my place?" asked Gaara

"Why are you being so nice?" asked tari as she looked up and meet gaara's pale blue eyes.

"I just trying to be your friend.." said Gaara

"Well why?...what could you gain." Asked tari

"That's a good question…how you come and at least let me feed you and then we talk more…" said Gaara. She placed her hand on her stomach and then looked at Gaara and nodded, she couldn't understand why he was doing this. She walked beside Gaara in silence back to his place.

MY NOTE: ok this is the first chapter… and yea I know it was kinda short….so I have some ideas but if you have any request just send me a message…please review thanks


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